At present, card dispensers on the market have a storehouse for accommodating cards. For example, a card dispenser from Sankyo Company of Japan is provided with a card stack region at the end of the dispenser. When the system has detected card shortage, it is necessary for the staff to go to the spot to supplement cards. Though the structure of such apparatus is simple and reliable and it is convenient for loading cards, it is possible that the cards may be lost or be removed artificially during manually loading, moving and handling the cards. The card dispenser from Omron Corporation of Japan has solved the probable situations described above to a certain degree, wherein, the card dispenser is provided with a card box at the end that may be removed from the card dispenser. The separate card box is utilized for loading cards, which may facilitate management. However, it has a lack of security, because the cards in the card box may be taken out by ones without authority.
The existing card box is generally mounted directly in the card dispenser main body. A card gate of the card outlet of the card box is not under protection. In other words, the card outlet may be opened at any time, such that the cards in the card box may be removed easily. Moreover, there is no correspondence between the card box and the card dispenser main body. The card box may be mounted on different card dispenser main bodies for dispensing cards. This also has disadvantages of lack of supervision and being not to ensure security of the cards.
A card box for loading cards as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,079 is added with a card pressing spring in the interior whereof, so as to ensure that the cards may not turn over due to sloshing of the card box after the card box has been removed from the card dispenser. But the card box does not have any security settings. Although locking means is equipped outside the card box, the card outlet is not under protection, but just a rotatable barrier is provided to close the card outlet. Thus, it is just needed to push the barrier aside gently by hand, then any person that can access to the card box can take out the cards loaded or left in the card box through the card outlet.
Additionally, usually when a user does not take away the card already being dispensed or cards are in an anomalous situation, the card dispenser may automatically withdraw the card and then the card may enter a card receiving box. For the existing card dispenser products, the card receiving box is generally a cavity arranged in the card dispenser for receiving cards, wherein the cards may be removed by specialized staff by hand. Such common method of receiving cards may be referred to a card receiving unit as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,261, which is irregular and unreasonable for financial system requiring high security and strict management. The cards placed in such card receiving unit may be taken out easily by an unspecified staff illegally. Especially in the financial system, cards are equivalent to effective securities, so various aspects associated with the cards must be in strict control.
In a card dispenser as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,867, the cards in the card dispensing box is sealed by means of locks, and the cards may be driven from bottom up to the card dispensing portion by way of a elevator, and then the card may be dispensed by the card dispenser. A disadvantage of this card dispenser is that it is not convenient to handle and manage the cards in the card dispenser. Onsite operation is required during supplementing cards to the card dispenser. Furthermore, it may take a long time to fill the cavity storing cards on the spot. In actual operation, the card dispenser is often arranged in a narrow area. It is unreasonable to working in the area for a long time. Similarly, it is possible for cards to be lost or be removed artificially during manually loading, moving and handling the cards.